The Egalitarian Trust in Nottingham, which encompasses The Galleries of Justice Museum, the City of Caves, and the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law (NCCL), will rebrand as the National Justice Museum in 2017.
The new title, covering all three attractions, will launch next spring following a £1-million Heritage Lottery Fund supported project.
As part of the changes, the Galleries of Justice Museum will change its name to National Justice Museum, Nottingham and the NCCL will become National Justice Museum Education. New exhibits and educational activities will be available as a result.
There will be a brief closure at The Galleries of Justice Museum from December to enable development works to take place.
National Justice Museum: what can school groups see?
School groups making a visit will be able to enjoy a range of new interactive activities and exhibitions suitable for all ages.
The National Justice Museum will provide a range of new exhibition areas using what’s said to be one of the UK's largest collections relating to law, justice, crime and punishment.
There will be over 40,000 items in the collection, which is made up of the following categories: police, HM prison service, legal, technology and law, costume, The Rainer Foundation Archive and The Crime Writers Association archive.
Visiting students will be able to see artefacts such as Oscar Wilde's cell door, the bath used in the ‘brides in the bath’ murder case, and gibbet irons.
There will also be force feeding equipment used on suffragettes and conscientious objectors, and the dock from Bow Street Magistrates Court used in cases such as the trials of the Kray twins.
As well as the collections, visitors will be able to experience the museum's grand Victorian courtrooms, 17th century dungeon, the 1800 prison cells, dayrooms and 1833 prison wing and the 1905 police station.
A number of educational links will be available across the three attractions linking to subjects including History, PHSE, Geography and English.
For further information teachers can visit www.galleriesofjustice.org.uk.
